Gas-making apparatus.



Pa'tented Nov. I8,- I902.

w. F. STEELE.

GAS mums APPARATUS.

(Application filed Apr. 10, 1902.) v

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No."7|4,ll7. Pat onted- Nov. l8, m2.v

w. F. "STEELE.

GA'SMAKING APPARATUS.

(Application fllqd Apr. 10, 1902.) (No Modal.) -3 Shaets$haet 2.

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7N0. 7|4,||7. Patented Nov. l8, I902.

w. F. STE ELE. GAS MAKING APPARATUS.

(Application filed Apr. 10, 1902.) (No Mddel.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

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NITED STATES FFICE.

ATENT I/VILBUR F. STEELE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO ACME GASCOMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION.

GAS-MAKING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 714,117, dated November18, 1902.

Application filed April 10, 1902.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILBUR F. STEELE, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of NewYork,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gas-MakingApparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in gas-making apparatus, and it hasparticular reference to that class of machines which use the lighterhydrocarbon oils; and the object is to obtain an absolute means ofutilizing all the hydrocarbon vapor in the oil and to utilize what aretermed the low-grade oils, or that product of the distillate ofpetroleum which has not heretofore been made available in themanufacture of gas.

The invention consists in employing a plurality of sets of carbureterswhich are connected up with each other, and each set of carbureters isconnected up with a common air-supply pipe at one end and with a commongas-discharge pipe at the other end, this feature being well known inthe arts as practiced by me and as such is well adapted to make gas fromthe higher-grade oils; but in order to utilize the lower grades of oil Iemploy in connection with these sets of carbureters, first, a heatingand cooling means intermediate in the carbureting process, and, second,in providing a means whereby the air in the process of carburetion isdiverted, so that the entire volume of the gas eventually produced willpass through a final series of carbureters, thus not only thoroughlydrying the gas produced, but effectually purifying it and preventingstratification, as will now be set forth in detail. I

In the drawings, Figure l is a plan View of my system for making gas.Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a central verticalsection of the cooling or heating chamber, and Figs. 4 and 5 arediagrammatic plan views of different structural methods of arranging anddisposing of the carburetors and cooling and heating cylinders and themethod of conducting the carbureted air through the system.

In the several figures, 7 represents the ini- SerialNo-102,314. (N0model.)

tial heater, which receives the air from a pressure-blower, (not shown;)8 9, the ordinary carbureting-chambers; 10, the intermediate heaters orheated carbureters; 11, the cooling-chambers, and 12 the scrubber fromwhich the manufactured gas finally issues.

The carbureting-chambers may be made in any manner best adapted to thepurpose, as this invention has no bearing on their structural character,nor has the invention any reference to the construction of theinitialheater, such as is usually employed in a system of this kind, or to thescrubber.

In the presentinvention I prefer to employ the well-known dispositionand arrangement of the-carbureters, in which three sets of carburetersare placed side by side, all being connected up in common with theinitial heater 7 and with the scrubber 12, each set of carburetershaving a valve 13 intermediate the initial heater and first carbureterof each series and also a valve 14 at the end of each set in the pipeleading to the scrubber.

The object of the heating-chamber 7 is to provide air at a hightemperaturesay from 120 to l-l0and the office of the scrubber is toeliminate the moisture and purify the gas, as in the ordinary gas-makingapparatus.

In practice the central set of carbureters 9 are diametrically largerthan the carbureters 8 in the other sets for reasons which will beexplained hereinafter. I show in Fig. 1 four of these carbureters 9 inthe central set and four cylindrical shells in the two outer sets, ofwhich the two intermediate cylinders 8 8 are ordinary carbureters, whilethe first, 10, of each set is a carbureter with a heating-coil therein,and the last, 11, of each set is a cooling-chamber. It is obvious,however, that I need not confine myself to this specific number ofcylinders-as, for instance, in Fig. 4 I show in the exterior row sixshells. In either case, however, the design is to place within the trainof carbureters one or more heaters and also intermediate the heater andthe scrubber one or more cooling-chambers.

Pipes l5 connect the initial heater 7 with the carburetors 9 andcarbureting-heaters 10 carbureter 9 and with the coolers 11, while thepipes 17 connect the different cylinders in series in the ordinarymanner.

It will be observed that each of the three series or sets of cylindersis connected up at one end with the initial heater 7 and at the otherend with the scrubber 12, such construction being well known in the art.In addition to this I also connect the two outer series of cylinderswith the intermediate series by pipes 18, this connection extending fromthe last cylinder 11 of the outer series to the first cylinder 9 of theintermediate se-' ries, each pipe having a valve 19. The object of thisreturn connecting-pipe is to subject the carbureted air from the outerseries of carbureters to final treatment after it has been cooled downto a normal temperature.

By reference to Fig. 4 it will be seen that the number of carburetersmay be increased in the outer series and that an ordinary carbureter 8may be placed between the initial heater 7 and the heated carbureter 10and that a cooling-chamber 11 has been added to each outer series.Otherwise the connections and operation of the system are the same asillustrated with reference to Fig. 1.

In Fig. 5 the cooler is placed in the intermediate series, as shown at20, and two heating-carbureters 10 10 are placed in each of the outerseries.

I find in practice that to fully utilize the low-grade oils in themanufacture of gas in machines of this class an intense heatfrom, say,120 to 160is not the most serviceable, but that, on the other hand, moreefficient Work is possible by subjecting the distillate to a moderatetemperature, averaging about 90 or less.

In my process the air from the heater 7 passes to the first generator atfrom 120 to 130 and would be gradually reduced to a very low temperatureas it passes through several successive carbureters; but by continuingthe heating process in such a manner as gradually to vaporize andcombine the hydrocarbon with the air, thus assuring not only a bettergas, but enabling me to take up in the process the heavier elementsremaining in the oil, thus greatly'economizing in the manufacture of theproduct, and enabling me to use distillate of very low specific gravity.

The system as herein shown possesses another advantage of considerableimportance, whereby I can use oils of different specific gravity in theapparatus at the same time, the heavier oils in the outer series ofcarbureters, the product of which can be' carried forward to the firstof the intermediate series 9, and the latter series 9 to receive ahighgravity oil to enrich the product from the outer series. Inpractice, however, I prefer to use with this system a low-grade oil, asheretofore stated, all of the carbureters being supplied with oil from acommon source through the main pipe 21 and distributed by the branchpipes 22.

In order to secure thorough 'carburetion with the lowest-grade oil, thevalves 14 in the pipes 16, which lead from the outer series to thescrubber 12, are closed and the valves 19 in the pipes 18 opened and theintermediate pipe-valve 13 closed, so that all the carbureted gas mustpass from the heater 7 to the heating-carburetor 10, thence through theor dinary carbureters 8 8, cooling-chamber 11, and back through the pipe18 to the first of the intermediate carbureters 9, and through thisseries to the scrubber 12. -As both of the outer series in this casedischarge their contents into the central set of carburetors, theyshould be made larger in diameter to increase their capacity. For thisreason also incase a single cooling-chamber is used, as shown at 20,Fig. 5, it is made considerably larger than the other cylinders. Eachcooling-chamber is provided at its lower end with a slightly-convexbottom 24 and has at one side a drain-pipe 25, leading to a reservoir26, the drain-pipe having a valve 27. Above this bottom is a concavepartition 28, having a central aperture, the object being to trap allcondensation and discharge it at intervals into the reservoir 26.Several horizontal perforated walls 29 are placed above the concavebottom, and the down-pipe 30, which supplies the carbureted gas to thecooler, discharges at a point below the lower perforated wall.

Above the upper perforated wall is an inletpipe 31, which connects witha coiled pipe 32 Within the shell, the upper end of the coil beingjoined up to a discharge-pipe 33 near the upper end of the shell. Theentire body of the shell around the coil is packed with coke or othersimilar material.

I connect the pipes 31 33 with a refrigerating system. (Shown inthisinst-ance by means of the pump 34: and reservoir 35 merely to showone form of connecting up thecooler.) It is obvious that water from amain may be employed or simply brine pumped through the coils in themanner best adapted to act as a cooling-surface for the coil.

The structure of the cooling-chamber,therefore, is practically the samein its interior construction as the carbureters, and the heaters 10 havesimilar construction interiorly, the principal difierence being in thefact that in the chambers 10 heat is used in the coil, whereas in thechambers 11 cooling fluids are used.

The operation of the machine is as follows: An air-pump supplies air tothe chamber 7, which is adapted to be heated by a coil of pipe orotherwise, and from this heater it passes through the outer pipes 15 tothe first heater in each of the outer series, the tworeceiving-carbureters 10 having therein means for heating the oil andthe carbureted air. The product of these carbureters passes to the nextcarbureters 8 8 and finally through the cooling-chambers 11 11 and outthrough the scrubber 12. If necessary, the valves 14 in the outer pipes16 may be closed and the valve 14 in the central pipe 15, as well as thevalves 19 in the pipes 18, opened, in which case the carbureted productpasses back through the pipes 18 to the first of the middle series ofcarbureters 9, thus more effectually carbureting the product before itenters the scrubber. In case, however, the oil is of very low gravity itis desirable to produce a change of temperature as the product passesthrough the carbureters. Thus in Fig. 4 I show two heating-carburetersin each of the outer series, which alternate with the ordinarycarbureters, and one cooling-chamber is placed in the middle series ofcarbureters, the object being to vary the temperature and then finallyto bring down the temperature of the product to a point less than theordinary working temperature of, say, to

What I claim as new is- 1. In apparatus for making gas, a plurality ofseries of carbureters connected up to an initial air-heater at one endof each series and at the other end to a scrubber, one or more of thecarbureters having means for heating the same.

2. In apparatus for making gas, two or more series of carbureters,connected up in multiple with a heater, at one end and a scrubber at theother end, one or more of the carbureters having heating appliances.

3. In apparatus for making gas, two or more series of carburetersconnected up in multiple with a heater at one. end and a scrubber at theother end, a cooling-chamber intermediate carbureters of a single seriesof carbureters.

1. In apparatus for making gas, three series of carbureters connected upin multiple with a heater at one end and a scrubber at the other end,one or more cooling-chambers intermediate the outer and inner series ofcarbureters.

5. In apparatus for making gas, two or more series ofcarbureting-chambers, connected up in multiple with a heated chamber,and a scrubber, one or more heating-carbureters at one end of the trainand one or more coolingchambers at the other end of the train.

6. In apparatus for making gas three series an air-heater at one end anda scrubber at the other end, a cooling-chamber at the end of each of theouter series of carbureters and connected up with the first carbureterof the central line of carbureters.

9. In apparatus for making gas, three se ries of carbureters connectedup in multiple with an air-heater at one end and'a scrubber at the otherend, the first carbureter in each of the outer series having therein aheating appliance, and a cooler after the last carbureter in the outerseries, and pipe connections between said cooler in each outer serieswith the first carbureter in the central series, as set forth.

10. In apparatus for making gas, two or more series ofcarburetiug-chambers having intermediate of two independent series oneor more cooling-chambers, as set forth.

11. In apparatus'for making gas, two or more series ofcarbureting-chambers, one'or more of said carbureters in one or moreseries having heating appliances therein, and one or' morecooling-chambers intermediate the carbureters, as set forth.

12. In apparatus for making gas three parallel series ofcarbureting-chambers connected up in multiple with a heating-chamber atone end and a scrubber at the other end, the last chamber of the outerseries connected up by a valved pipe with the first of the central. lineof carbureters.

13. In apparatus for making gas, three parallel series ofcarbureting-chambers connected up in multiple with a heating-chamber atone end, and a scrubber at the other end, the central series ofcarbureters being larger than the outer series and connected up with theouter series to receive the carbureted air from both of the outerseries.

14. In apparatus for making gas, three series of carbureters connectedup in multiple with a heating-chamber at one end, with a scrubber at theother end, each of the outer series having one or more carbureters withheating appliances therein, as set forth.

15. In apparatus for making gas, three or more series of carburetersconnected up in multiple with a heating-chamber at one end, and with ascrubber at the other end, and having a cooling-chamber at each end ofthe outer series.

16. In a gas-carbureting system, the combination of two or more seriesof carbureters having intermediate, the carbureters of a single series,means for heating the carbureted air in its passage through the systemand of cooling the said air.

17. In a gas-carbureting system, the combination of three series ofcarbureting-chambers connected up in multiple with a heater at one endand a scrubber at the other end, with intermediate means between any twoindependent series for heating and cooling the carbureted air in itspassage through the system.

18. Ina gas-carbureting system, three series of carbureting-chambersconnected up in multiple with a heating-chamber at one end and ascrubber at the other end, each of the outer series having means forheating and cooling the carbureted air in its passage through thesystem, as set forth.

19. In a gas-carbureting system a cooler interposed between thecarbureters comprising a vertical chamber, having the gas-inlet pipeterminating at the lower end of the chamber, a trap to receive thecondensation, a series of perforated plates to distribute the gas and acoil of pipe in the upper portion of the chamher to receive the coolingfluid, the space surrounding the coil being filled with coke or othermaterial, as set forth.

20. In apparatus for making gas, two or more series of carburetorsconnected up in multiple with a heater at one end and scrubber at theother end, and a cooling-chamber

